The present invention relates to an improved patient lead cable apparatus for electrocardiography.
To obtain information indicative of the electrical activity associated with the physiological functioning of the heart, electrodes are applied to the skin of a patient. In conventional twelve lead electrocardiography, ten electrodes are used. The electrodes are positioned on the patient's skin at locations established by a medical protocol. Four of the electrodes are placed on the patient to represent his/her limbs. These include the left arm electrode, the right arm electrode, the left leg electrode, and the right leg electrode. Six chest electrodes are placed on the patient's chest at various locations near the heart. The electrodes are connected to an electrocardiograph by patient lead cable apparatus.
The signals in the electrodes are combined in various combinations, termed "leads" to provide the desired electrocardiograph information to the electrocardiograph. An analog recording of the information produced on a strip chart recorder or cathode ray tube is used for diagnostic or other purposes. Or, the information may be digitized for analysis or display purposes.
Each of the ten electrodes requires a connecting wire in the patient lead cable apparatus leading to the electrocardiograph. In the past, the wires have often been separate and the ten connecting wires have inevitably become tangled when the apparatus is used. The need to at least partially untangle the wires when applying and connecting the electrodes on the patient's chest makes the application of the ten leads a time-consuming and tedious task. It further increases the possibility that errors will occur in placing the correct electrode at the proper location and in connection the correct electrode to the proper lead.